Jammu & Kashmir police bust narco-terror nexus with Punjab links, arrest 20

PTI file photo

JAMMU: J&K Police Wednesday claimed to have busted a major narco-terror nexus with links extending to Punjab and across the border, and arrested 20, including three alleged kingpins.

The drug supply chain had been feeding narcotics into the Union Territory, SSP Jammu Joginder Singh said. Surajdeep Singh, Harpreet Singh alias Raju, and Jaspreet, who were arrested from Amritsar, were kingpins of the narco-terror module there and supplied narcotics to nearly 20 forward links in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, the SSP said. J&K Police registered multiple FIRs against them. The trio was linked to drug kingpin Gulzar Ahmad alias Lau Gujjar, who was arrested on April 15 along with some associates and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

J&K Police had recovered a Pakistan-made pistol and around 700g of heroin from him, indicating cross-border linkages. “The three were responsible for supplying nearly 80% of narcotic substances to the Jammu region. They were backward links of Gujjar and his J&K-based network,” the SSP said. The dismantling of the network resulted in the recovery of one AK-47 rifle and 40 live rounds; one Star pistol and 29 live cartridges; four live 12-bore cartridges; over 1kg of narcotics and Rs 11 lakh cash from the three kingpins.

Three cellphones, three four-wheelers, and an electronic weighing machine were also seized, the SSP said. “Over the past several months, we have identified, dismantled and arrested members of many supply-chain modules. Analysis of backward and forward linkages revealed that most of the supply routes traced back to Punjab. Investigation established that a handful of individuals operating under multiple identities via several phone numbers were controlling the bulk of narcotics supply to Jammu and neighbouring districts,” SSP Singh said. “Backward linkages uncovered during Gujjar’s investigation eventually led the police to Punjab-based suppliers arrested in the latest operation. During searches in Amritsar, recoveries included not only narcotics, cash and vehicles but also sophisticated weapons such as an AK-47 rifle, an AK-56 rifle, a pistol and ammunition,” the SSP said. Singh said narcotics were smuggled across the border and received by Punjab-based handlers. The consignments were then either collected directly by local suppliers from Jammu or transported via couriers.